Spike's Birth Story

I went to the Dr for my 39 week check up on Oct 8th, she told me that at first she though I wouldn’t make it to my scheduled c-section (Oct 15th) but now was positive I was going to go all the way. Joshua hadn’t really dropped or anything hinting that he was going to try to come early. After my appt I went to the PD got my paycheck, updated on what the dr had said and then went to lunch with Jason. We then walked around the mall looking for a baby hat that we never found. Jason joked that all that walking might make him decide to make his appearance early and something about how women go into labor after they get their induction/c-section scheduled. I told him he was nuts and that the midwife was right and the baby wasn’t going to get here until they went and got him. I was both right and wrong. The rest of the day was uneventful I convinced Jason we needed to do a belly cast so we did and that was it for the day.

The next morning (Oct 9th) Jason went to work at the fire department I woke up about 7 ate a muffin and sat down to watch tv. About 8:30 my mom called and when I stood up to get the phone it felt like I had peed or something, but being 39 weeks pregnant I didn’t really think much of it, ask a pregnant person, pee happens. So I changed clothes and continued to talk to mom. The next time I stood up the same thing happened so I mentioned it to her and she told me that she thought it was my water leaking and to call Jason. We hung up and I tried to call Jason. I tried his cell phone and every fire station he could be at and got no answer. That kinda freaked me out so I called Central (911 for my non police/fire/ems people) and got them to call him on the radio (Thanks Hank). Well not only did he not have his phone he also didn’t hear his radio and his partner had to get his attention in the gym and tell him to call me. All during this I had been having mild contractions I was considering Braxton hicks and yes I was still in denial that I could actually be in labor because my midwife told me I was going to ‘go the distance’. While talking to Jason the real contractions started and were enough to take my breath away. They stayed pretty regular about 5 minutes apart the whole time Jason was driving home. He got home and we grabbed the bags and headed to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital we checked in at the ER and went straight up to L&D. Once there I was hooked up to the fetal monitor and the contraction monitor. The contractions where still regular between 2 and 4 minutes apart and peaking pretty high (between 8 and 10 on the 0-12 scale). A hour or so after being in L&D (about 11am) a nurse came in and checked me I was less than 1 cm dilated she then did a swab to check if it was amniotic fluid I was leaking and that came back positive so they called in my midwife.  My midwife got to the hospital about 1. She checked my progress and I was still less than 1 cm but was definitely in active labor. She did a ferning test to check to see if I was still leaking amniotic fluid and it came up negative. She came in with the results from the ferning test about 2 and said that the other dr was at the hospital and if we wanted she could check and see if we could call in the OR staff and get the c-section done then instead of waiting. At this point I had been in labor for about 6 hours and was ready for the pain to be gone. Early in the pregnant we had discussed if I did go into labor on my own that she would let me labor for 24 hours then I would lose my veto power and we would go ahead with the c-section; however I could change my mind at any point and we would go ahead with the c-section then.  It took about an hour for the OR staff to get in and for me to get prepped.

The c-section was definitely different than I thought it would be. I had a spinal and some nausea medicine. I really expected to get something to relax me or something but I didn’t. The sensations involved with the surgery was interesting. I couldn’t see anything because of the drape but I could feel the pressure involved with the midwife pushing on the top of my stomach. My husband told me that not only was the midwife pushing on the top of my stomach another nurse was pulling retractors and the dr was having to unwedge the baby to get him out. He was born at 3:50 pm weighed 8lbs 8oz and was 19 inches long. Overall the c-section was uneventful other than my beautiful baby boy was born. When they finally got him out the nurses kept saying how pretty he was and he in true Brooks fashion peed twice and pooped on the nurse. Jason left with the baby while he got cleaned up weighed and measured all while I was getting sewed up. While being sewed up for some reason me and the or staff were talking about landscaping, sign painting and when Jason and I plan on having another baby. Completely random conversation but helped the time go by while they were closing.

My stay in the hospital was wonderful. The nurses were awesome and totally aided in the spoiling of Josh.